Glutamine synthetase gene evolution: A good molecular clock

Journal Article · Tue Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.88.2.522· OSTI ID:6203072

Pesole, G; Lanvave, C; Saccone, C ^[1]; Bozzetti, M P ^[2]; Preparata, G ^[3]

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1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Bari (Italy)
2. Univ. di Bari (Italy)
3. Univ. di Milano (Italy)

Glutamine synthetase gene evolution in various animals, plants, and bacteria was evaluated by a general stationary Markov model. The evolutionary process proved to be unexpectedly regular even for a time span as long as that between the divergence of prokaryotes from eukaryotes. This enabled us to draw phylogenetic trees for species whose phylogeny cannot be easily reconstructed from the fossil record. The calculation of the times of divergence of the various organelle-specific enzymes led us to hypothesize that the pea and bean chloroplast genes for these enzymes originated from the duplication of nuclear genes as a result of the different metabolic needs of the various species. The data indicate that the duplication of plastid glutamine synthetase genes occurred long after the endosymbiotic events that produced the organelles themselves.

• OSTI ID: 6203072
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States), Vol. 88:2; ISSN 0027-8424
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CELL CONSTITUENTS
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
LIGASES
DNA SEQUENCING
AMINO ACID SEQUENCE
GLUTAMINE
MARKOV PROCESS
MOLECULAR MODELS
AMIDES
AMINO ACIDS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
ENZYMES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
STRUCTURAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
550201* - Biochemistry- Tracer Techniques